Golf, your majesty?
by Ellenlome
Summary: [OneShot] Just my idea of how Natori ended up as the cat King's advisor. Previously under 'What was left unsaid'. I decided to break it up in different stories.


**Disclaimer: ** I don't own "The Cat Returns", it's Studio Ghibli's. The plot and any original ideas are mine though.

**Edit Author's note: **I decided to break the story "What was left unsaid" into three separate ones. Just thought this fandom deserved to have more than "17" displayed near it. :)

"**Golf, your majesty?"**

The Cat king sat at the table, attentively listening to his numerous advisors, ministers and emissaries from over the different provinces in the world, his tow-colored eyes currently trained on Ahmed, an emissary from Cairo, his ears perking forward. All in all, he was the perfect image of the attentive, patient, understanding and caring king everyone expected. Key word: image. If one actually looked closely enough at the young King, they would notice that his eyes were slightly unfocused, a sure sign that his mind was elsewhere, probably as far away from the meeting as possible. After all, he had only been king for a scant two years, and besides, being king didn't mean he had to like boring meetings, did it?

But the king's attention wasn't focused on the farthest point he could get from the meeting. It actually was on a very close place. On a room in particular – well, cat actually, who was resting in the royal chamber. The young Queen was resting there, monitored by the royal doctor throughout her recent illness. The king would have given anything to be at her side right now but, as she herself had told him, he was the king, and so had duties to attend to. So, reluctantly, he had gone on with his routine, but Lord, was he bored!

The cat king shook himself out of his thoughts, the slight shaking of his fur interpreted by those who noticed as a slight approval nod. Letting his thoughts wander wasn't what he should be doing, and so he forced his attention back on whatever Ahmed was saying.

"…obvious that more guards are required at the doors," droned the emissary. _More guards at the doors? What concern of his is that? He's from Egypt! And anyway, don't we already have enough guards at the palace doors?_ The young king was amused by these thoughts. How stupid could one cat be?

"Why?" asked another cat, his voice precise. "We only have one set of great doors to the palace, and so two guards are more than enough to guard it, especially if they are of the army's elite! Besides, no one has any need to break into the palace. Its doors are opened to all of his majesty's subjects!"

The king would have gasped if it wasn't un-kingly, as he had been taught. One of the group was actually making sense? Now that was a feat. He glanced up at the cat that had spoken. It was a young one, with grey fur of two different shades. The king had never seen him before. Maybe someone sent as a replacement by another member? A quick counting and he realized that Lord Belash from the small northern province of Hokkaido was absent. So, that one was sent in his stead? Well, it was a nice change, to have someone with some sense in the middle of slight chaos, as was the case with any kind of administration. The king made a mental note of speaking to that cat after the meeting.

Meanwhile, Ahmed was at a loss for words, stuttering excuses and half-finished sentences. He clearly hadn't expected any kind of logical argument against his motion. Wanting to get out of the meeting as soon as possible and Ahmed's stuttering grating on his nerves, the young king abruptly slammed his paw on the log table.

"Silence!" his voice wasn't loud and powerful as that of his father's, but he did have a certain way to make them shut up when necessary.

All the cats immediately clamped their mouths shut, looking at him with half-fear at having committed some kind of sin, and half-happily for stopping Ahmed from anymore blabbering. The young king nearly sighed, but instead said:

"Sir Ahmed, I understand that your province has been assaulted a lot by the local dogs recently, and I promise to send a regiment to help out your citizens, but that doesn't justify you meddling with the palace's affairs!" His voice had escalated a bit with each word, and he had finished in a near yell. "Now that this matter is settled," he continued a bit more calmly, "does anyone else have anymore requests?"

The cats shook their head. Either they really had nothing else to say, or they were too afraid to speak, the king didn't care. All that mattered was ending this meeting and going back to his beloved Queen.

"Then this meeting is ended. I will see you all next week. Good day." And with that he got up and walked out of the room. He didn't go far though, for he still wanted to talk to the grey cat. Hiding himself in a curtained alcove he used to hide in to "spy" on his father's meetings (although his father had been quite aware of the fact, as he later told his son when he came of age), the cat king watched as the advisors ministers and others slowly filed away from the room. But still no grey cat. What was he doing?

Finally, after a quarter of an hour, and just as the king was deciding he would leave, the grey cat got out, a neat stack of papers clutched in his paws. _This explains that, he was finishing his notes._ _Now, how to get his attention without looking like a fool? Damn, why did I have to become king so soon? I still had a lot to learn to do so. _Finally, he decided he would simply walk out of the alcove when the cat wasn't looking (it never did any bad to make some impression on citizens) and cough lightly. That should do the trick.

He did as he had planned, and sure enough the grey cat jumped slightly and turned in surprise. Upon realizing who it was though he bowed deeply in respect. The king growled in annoyance.

"Please, will you stop that? It irks me."

"Your majesty, I am just following etiquette and the respect you deserve…"

"Oh please, Mr.…."

"Natori," supplied the grey cat, at a loss for what was going on.

"Mr. Natori, I haven't done anything to deserve your respect, not yet anyway, so will you please stop bowing. It makes me uncomfortable, to have people bow so much in my presence."

The grey cat was obviously confused, but he complied and straightened. The king would have raised an eyebrow if he had one. The grey cat, at his full stature and close up, was almost as tall as the king himself when one took out the angora fur. That was unusual for any advisor. He realized that he had somehow expected the grey cat – Natori, he had to remember that – to be like the other members.

"Tell me, Mr. Natori, where do you come from? I don't recall ever seeing you here."

"I'm from Hokkaido, your majesty," replied the grey cat as he fell into step with the king.

"Really? How are things going there?"

"Well, everything is alright…almost," and the king noted the hesitation in the young cat's voice. Still respectful of his elders uh?

"Almost? Please elaborate, and don't leave anything out, I wish to hear one of my citizens' opinion," and at his prompting, the young cat continued. The young king was surprised by how thoughtful the cat was of the Kingdom's citizens, and of the consequences of one's actions. He also discovered that, although he was serious and proper on the outside as was the king, he also had a very fun side, something that the young king was surprised to discover. Serious and a sense of humor?

The two cats didn't talk long, but it was long enough for the king to know what he needed. The next day, Natori was very much surprised to receive two letters: one official and one unofficial. The official one was stating his appointment as personal advisor to the Cat King. The unofficial one, an invitation to play golf with the king. Natori raised an eyebrow: it was going to be an interesting assignment.

**Author's note: **Right. Ok, so this is one of the many scenarios I had in mind for how Natori ended up as the Cat King's advisor, and their relationship in the movie (they acted like best friends in my opinion, albeit very strange ones).

This actually started off as a one-shot to explain the Queen's absence from the movie, which for me meant that she had died. But when rereading the original idea, I found out that it really fit with Natori to be the intervening cat in the council. Anyway, I will make another one-shot about Lune's mother's death, or whatever. Hope you liked this one.

One last thing: this is when the Cat King, Lune's father, was young and at the beginning of his reign, his father (Lune's grandfather) having died recently. Hope that clears the setting a bit.

**EarthAngel: You guessed right! So here's your reward! (Muta strides in holding angel fruit e-cake with whipped cream - he almost killed me when he saw I forgot to mention it as part of the reward)**

Lol. See you all soon! Review please to tell me what you thought!

Ellenlome


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